Spring Statement 2022: Chancellor 'fails to address' cost of living crisis says Sheffield MP Louise Haigh

A Sheffield MP has criticised the Chancellor for failing to address the cost of living crisis in his Spring Statement.
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Rishi Sunak announced his mini-Budget as the Office of National Statistics said inflation had risen to 6.2 per cent - the highest for 30 years.

Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said: “This was the Chancellor’s chance to show people that he and his government are really on the side of working people and instead he squandered it.

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“It was absolutely essential that he scrapped the increase in National Insurance that's coming next month and that he backed Labour’s one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producers’ profits.

Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said: “This was the Chancellor’s chance to show people that he and his government are really on the side of working people and instead he squandered it."Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said: “This was the Chancellor’s chance to show people that he and his government are really on the side of working people and instead he squandered it."
Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said: “This was the Chancellor’s chance to show people that he and his government are really on the side of working people and instead he squandered it."
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“None of this was seen today, and the support offered is a drop in the ocean compared to the crisis facing families.

“The Chancellor’s announcement today will do nothing for many people in Sheffield. He has, once again, failed to understand the scale of the challenge that many people face.

“He needed to stand up and really listen to the problems that people are facing. His actions will push more and more children and pensioners into poverty - a damning indictment of this government's record.”

A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak gesturing as he presents the Spring budget statement to MPs at the House of Commons, in London, on March 23, 2022. (Photo by PRU / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by -/PRU/AFP via Getty Images)A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak gesturing as he presents the Spring budget statement to MPs at the House of Commons, in London, on March 23, 2022. (Photo by PRU / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by -/PRU/AFP via Getty Images)
A video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament's Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak gesturing as he presents the Spring budget statement to MPs at the House of Commons, in London, on March 23, 2022. (Photo by PRU / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / PRU " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by -/PRU/AFP via Getty Images)
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Think tank IPPR North responded to the Spring Statement saying the Chancellor ‘seriously missed the mark’.

Dr Arianna Giovannini, interim director, said he failed to announce the substantial measures needed to support people on the lowest incomes, and level up the UK.

She added: “This puts at risk the credibility of the government’s flagship levelling up agenda – which barely featured in the Chancellor’s speech - with real, dramatic consequences for people’s lives.

“People in the North will now rightly begin to question whether the government is serious about its pledge to raise prosperity and close regional divides. The growing chasm between rhetoric and reality is all too familiar to us.

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On energy, Jonathan Webb, a senior research fellow at IPPR North, said the statement did not go far enough in addressing the more than 1m households in the North in fuel poverty.

He added: “The government can and must make it affordable for people to heat their homes right now. This means providing more immediate, direct financial support that covers the cost of energy increases and avoids asking for money back at a later date.”

On the cost of living, Erica Roscoe, a senior research fellow at IPPR North, said the cost of living crisis would see the 3.5m people across the North fall deeper into poverty despite being in work - alongside thousands more as prices increase while wages remain the same.

She added: “The Chancellor had the opportunity today to support those on the lowest incomes – people who are going to be hit the hardest by this crisis – by using our social security system effectively and he has chosen not to do so.

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“Those on the lowest incomes need to be offered support most urgently through measures like re-instating the Universal Credit uplift and increasing the value and eligibility of support for those hardest hit.”

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